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OPINION

Another view: Trump rattles his saber at Iran before top diplomats are in place

President Donald Trump, accompanied by, from second from left, Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, Vice President Mike Pence, White House press secretary Sean Spicer and National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, speaks on the phone with with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2017, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington.(Photo: Andrew Harnik, AP)

So what exactly did National Security Advisor Michael Flynn mean when he announced Wednesday that the Trump administration is “officially putting Iran on notice” over a missile test Flynn claims violated a United Nations Security Council resolution? Was it just a bit of Trumpian bravado? Some saber rattling by Flynn, a longtime anti-Islamist hawk, because he felt like it? Or are presidential strategist Steve Bannon’s hands in this, and the administration is trying to stir another pot? Or — worst-case scenario — is the president paving the way to war?

We’re accustomed to President Trump’s bullying, shoot-from-the-lip attacks on anyone he thinks has slighted him. But an administration can’t conduct foreign policy that way. If elections have consequences, so, too, do words, and when the president’s top national security advisor issues such a hostile and belligerent statement menacing another nation, it’s not just another Twitterstorm.

Trump has been in office less than two weeks, and the nation knew that his lack of experience in government and world affairs would mean a steep learning curve. So far the administration’s ineptness — exhibit one: rolling out a new immigration and refugee policy without consulting the people charged with enforcing it — has been stunning. But it is beyond reckless to threaten other countries before you’ve even figured out where the White House bathroom is.

Trump ran against Obama’s foreign policy record, viewing it as too weak and accommodating in general, and specifically in the agreement under which Iran pledged to dismantle much of its nuclear infrastructure — which Trump threatened to undo. Fortunately, it will be hard for Trump to kill the act on his own: The deal was reached through negotiations that included the United Kingdom, Russia, France, China and Germany. And while far from perfect, the agreement achieved the prime goal of throttling Iran’s ability to create nuclear weapons.

The U.N. Security Council embraced the agreement with a resolution that limits the kinds of missile testing Iran could undertake. Iran claims its test Sunday did not violate the resolution; Flynn says it did. Whether it was a violation is not for the Trump administration to determine, but for the Security Council, which discussed the matter Tuesday. And it’s still unclear whether Iran was testing a missile or testing Trump. If the latter, Iran got its answer: The new president is easily, and perhaps dangerously, baited, a lesson that should not be wasted on the American people.

Troubling, too, is Flynn offering a list of offenses for which he blames Iran, including the recent attack by Iranian-backed Houthi forces on a Saudi ship off Yemen and the harassment of others nations’ ships — including those of the U.S. — in the Red Sea. That sounds like a bill of particulars, and the Trump administration must explain to the American people — and Congress — whether it is laying the foundation for war.

Flynn said the Obama administration “failed to respond adequately to Tehran’s malign actions,” including its support for terrorism and its weapons transfers, the implication clearly being that the new administration would be much more hard-line. It’s telling that Flynn’s statement came just before the Senate approved former Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson as secretary of State. So having ousted top career diplomats at Foggy Bottom, Trump pushed toward an international crisis before he even had his own diplomatic team in place.

For the sake of the nation, we hope Trump quickly readjusts his approach to international affairs from what seems to be a threaten-first framework to one that relies on diplomacy. Dealing with other sovereign nations isn’t like bullying a Hollywood celebrity or the parents of a soldier killed in action or, for that matter, the media. Other nations have their own interests, and an insult or ill-considered threat can lead to more than a headline-generating spat. For example, if Iran tests another missile, would Trump feel the warning had been ignored and launch a military strike outside the framework of the United Nations? How would Russia respond, or the Iraqi government, which is relying on Iranian troops to combat the Islamic State?